GeekLikeMe

Wednesday: August 12, 2009

Airplane pilots and World of Warcraft players alike understand how valuable it can be to get more information at a glance, and a small amount of tweaking can get your browser’s sidebar working to do just that.

Tuesday: June 16, 2009

Most manufacturers already use barcodes or RFID chips to track their products. But with the help of cheap cellphone and internet access it is becoming possible to collate data from remote locations around the world and make it available to the people who are actually going to eat the food.

Friday: October 27, 2006

You can really find some great bargains on the Internet if you know where to look. Over the past couple of years I've gotten into the habit of browsing deal sites on a daily basis. Here are some of my favorite surf points I like to check out when I have some free time to bargain shop.

If you don't know about Woot.com by now you should. Woot showcases a different product on a daily basis with significantly near-closeout prices. The end result is a price tag on certain items that you probably would have a hard time finding anywhere else. For the better deal gems of Woot, its better to visit their site first thing in the morning as there is usually a set quantity of items they are selling (and hot items will sell out fast). Get yourself a copy of the dashboard widget to be more prepared for the morning rush on popular deal days. In addition, they will occasionally have a 'woot-off' in which multiple items are sold off while supplies last throughout the day.

This site is great simply because the design is well thought out which makes it very easy to find the things you're looking for thanks to the inclusion of product thumbnails. Another great thing about this site is the variety of deals. Deals can range anywhere from tech schwag to household goods and kitchen items. You never know when a kitchen gadget may come in handy (especially if the price is right). There is also a dashboard widget for my fellow Mac OS X users.

A must stop for every Mac addict. Dealmac is simply a terrific resource to get all kinds of deals on Mac related products. A perfect place to shop for the best iPod and iPod accessory prices for that perfect holiday gift. Of course this site isn't just about Mac products as it branches out into other types of techie items such as PDAs and cell phones. Like GottaDeal.com, dealmac.com takes the time out to include thumbnails (a welcome addition) that keep me checking back their site on a daily basis. I am also a fan of this site simply because they too took the time out to make a nifty dashboard widget so I can self-obsess over product purchases even further. One last side note, dealmac is just one of five sites in the deal-insert-subject-here sites. You can also browse dealram.com, a great resource for getting the cheapest prices on memory, as well as dealcam.com if you're in the market for a digital camera.

So you've found a great deal on Mac hardware via dealmac.com - now what about software? If you're looking for software on the cheap for your beloved Apple, then look no further. Everyday there is a new program up for purchase from shareware developers all around the Mac community at very reasonable prices. If you're looking for a productivity application or just an extra game for your laptop you should swing by this site often. From time to time this site will offer a 'mysteryZOT' - multiple software packages thrown together in one deal at an extremely low price. You can also take comfort in knowing that when you purchase a piece of software from MacZot - you are encouraging (and possibly feeding) the potentially struggling shareware developer.

DealsOnTheWeb.com always gets a daily visit from me as well. I also like this site due to its core simplicity. The deals here are usually of the techie variety, and that's just fine with me. There is one tiny thing that bugs me about this site - it takes two clicks to get to the actual deal. A minor annoyance however to find the cheap deals on products.

Another site where you may discover some great bargains is SlickDeals.com. This site has a broad range of categories of deals. So much so, that it deservered a mention on this list. Out of all the sites listed I enjoy SlickDeals the most simply for its variety. From cheap DVD's to feather down comforters, this site is worth a visit for the online bargain shopper.

Crocodeals is a deal site that wants you to know about 'wild online discounts' - and that's not a problem as long as they deliver on said slogan. Thankfully, they usually do. Most of the items from this site tend to be of the tech genre, but they manage to sprinkle in a vacuum cleaner bargain every now and then. Sadly, there is no dashboard widget as of this posting, but I will give this site due credit since it makes use of thumbnails (which makes skimming the deals all that much easier for those of us on the go).

And there you have it. In parting I will give off a handy tip that will speed up your search of online bargains. Bookmark all of the afforementioned sites into a folder. When you're ready to hunt for deals, right click on the bookmarks folder and choose 'open in tabs' (this should work in either Firefox or Internet Explorer 7). All of your sites will open in one window and you can, in a very real sense, do some quick window shopping.

With Black Friday rapidly approaching, it may be worth visiting these sites more often than usual. I say this because several of the places in the above list make special sections for this mass consumer event where you can usually find even bigger bargains if you poke around enough. And before you ask, no, none of the listed websites paid me to say that (I wished they did).

Any deal sites you feel we might have overlooked? Leave a comment for the rest of us.